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Service Phases Out Old EFTPS Software

The
Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) allows payment of
all federal taxes—including income, employment, estimated, and
excise taxes—by phone, online, or through the use of special
software. The Service recently announced that it will stop
accepting EFTPS payments through two obsolete software interfaces.
A legacy dial-up version of the EFTPS software stopped being
supported after October 31, 2007, and a ten-year-old PC software
version will not be supported after January 31, 2008.

According to the IRS, fewer than 400 tax professionals were
still using the dial-up software, but more than 13,000 made
payments using the PC batch-filer software during 2007.

The Service has concentrated its development efforts on new
batch-provider software, which was introduced in May 2006. The new
EFTPS software can send up to 1,000 client enrollments and 5,000
payments in a single transmission. During 2007, 3.4 million
payments were made using the new software, and currently EFTPS
accounts for 80% of tax dollars paid. According to Mark Stevens,
director of the Tax Collection Division of Treasury’s Financial
Management Service, the Service has overall gotten a positive
response to the new software from practitioners.

The IRS
is urging tax professionals who have been using the dial-up or PC
software to switch to the new batch-provider software, which
Stevens describes as “the latest and greatest.” Tax professionals
using the old PC software must register the new software and
re-enroll all clients. The IRS says this process takes about two
weeks.

Among CPA tax preparers, tax return preparation software generates often extensive and ardent discussion. To get through the rigors of tax season, they depend on their tax preparation software. Here’s how they rate the leading professional products.

Don’t get lost in the fog of legislative changes, developing tax issues, and newly evolving tax planning strategies. Tax Section membership will help you stay up to date and make your practice more efficient.